Fundamental Steps to Starting a Sustainable Business

If you want to start a business that respects nature and benefits your local community, ecopreneurship could be the way to go. These days, launching and running a sustainable company is more realistic than ever. As long as you dedicate yourself to hard work and planning, you can lay a solid foundation for a business that flourishes long-term.

Study Up on Ecopreneurship     

First, it's important to understand precisely what ecopreneurship is. An ecopreneur is a term that has become more popular in recent years as companies and consumers gain awareness of climate change and other planet-threatening issues. An ecopreneur is essentially an entrepreneur who focuses as much (if not more) on the state of the environment as they do on profit.

Selling eco-friendly products or services is a major aspect of ecopreneurship, but you also must consider how to make every aspect of your operations more sustainable, such as reducing waste, sourcing goods from local businesses, making charitable donations, etc.

It's also crucial to grasp the triple bottom line method by which ecopreneurs abide. 

1. You have the environmental bottom line that concentrates on how your business reduces its ecological footprint and carbon footprint. 

2. You also have the social bottom line, which observes how your business is benefiting the local community. 

3. The financial bottom line refers to how profitable your company is and how you can re-invest into the business sustainably.

While you're at it, you might research other sustainable businesses that have found high levels of success. Here are a few examples:

• A Good Company

• Pela

• Patagonia

• Dr. Bronner's

• Allbirds

• Aspiration

• Avocado Green Mattress 

• Grove Collaborative

You can also find green businesses in your area to connect with. Partnering with other companies is an excellent way to move your environmental mission and values forward.

Sift Through Business Ideas     

Once you learn as much as you can about ecopreneurship and research successful sustainable companies, begin brainstorming what types of businesses could thrive in your community or region. As awareness increases and technology advances, more and more industries are becoming eco-friendly. Here are some ideas to consider:

• Solar panel installation

• Electric taxi service

• Eco-friendly clothing

• Green cleaning products

• Energy auditing

• Organic farming

• Green landscaping

Plan It Out     

With a promising business idea in hand, draft a business plan that guides your decisions and strategizes your goals. According to this guide on how to start a business with ZenBusiness, your business plan should include an executive summary, product and service descriptions, target audience, marketing strategy, financial projections, funding requirements, and the business structure you’ll use.

In Texas, there are several business entities you can choose to operate under, but two worth mentioning to budding entrepreneurs are S corps and LLCs. A Texas S corp filing gives business owners the opportunity to save on self-employment taxes and the ability to file deductions on business losses. An LLC in Texas protects your personal assets from being involved in your company’s legal dealings, and you’ll also enjoy some tax perks. Thoroughly research these and other options to make sure you choose a structure that makes sense for your business.

The marketing section of your plan should detail your branding and the channels you expect to optimize while promoting. For instance, you could focus your attention on building a top-notch website and engaging consumers on social media. Developing attention-grabbing banners for your site and social media accounts will boost brand awareness, and you can use banner templates to design yours quickly. This kind of tool allows you to customize your banners with a range of design elements to give your Twitter feed, Facebook page, or YouTube channel a more branded look.

Start Building a Team

If you're launching an environmentally-friendly ecommerce shop, you may not need to hire any team members in the early stages. But you might be surprised by how quickly the process of starting and running a business can become overwhelming. 

Before launching, start researching tasks you might not have the time, energy, or expertise to do. And look at online job boards to see a wide-ranging talent pool of freelancers available for hire.

It's now more realistic to launch and operate a sustainable business than ever before. Commit to the work and diligently plan to build a firm foundation for a thriving company. The tips above can get you off to a great start, but continue to learn as much as possible about ecopreneurship and the process of starting a business.

Join the Mineral Wells Area Chamber of Commerce to connect with great business-building resources in our community.